"Number 59, Number 41, Number 23, eliminated!"
Slowly but surely, the voices of the proctors announcing participant eliminations became more frequent in the tense examination room.
The exam papers seemed to be an invisible battlefield. However, the nine rookie Genin from Konoha appeared relatively calm, each using their own unique skills to try and obtain answers.
Only Sakura stood out because she was genuinely working through the questions with her own ability; the top student in theory was truly exceptional!
Currently, the only sound remaining in the exam room was the scratching of pencils on paper as candidates tried to answer.
However, hidden beneath that concentrated silence, various impressive ninjutsu for gathering intelligence were in action.
Neji's Byakugan, Sasuke's Sharingan, Kiba's Akamaru, Shino's insects moved silently collecting information, sound waves from the Otogakure Genin were used for communication, and Tenten skillfully used threads and ninja tools to cooperate with Lee to obtain information. Ino, of course, used her Yamanaka clan's signature jutsu to possess someone else's mind (Sakura's).
Swish!
A kunai shot out accurately, narrowly grazing Naruto's face and embedding itself hard into the exam paper of the ninja sitting behind him.
Naruto's heart momentarily pounded.
"You! Number 27! You've made five mistakes. You're out!" A proctor's voice sounded cold and merciless. "And this person's two teammates, leave the examination room now!"
Naruto panicked for a moment, imagining his team would fail because of him.
However, he quickly calmed down when he heard Hana's gentle voice in his mind. "Calm down, Naruto-kun. This is part of the test. Don't let this pressure control you. Remember what we discussed."
As Naruto was about to try the strategy Hana had taught him to get answers, he noticed movement beside him.
Hinata Hyuga, her face slightly flushed, carefully slid her answer sheet a little towards Naruto, as if by accident.
"Hmm... does this count as an intelligence-gathering method too, Hana-neechan?" Naruto asked inwardly, slightly surprised and confused by Hinata's action.
Hana chuckled amusedly in his mind.
"Fufufu~ You know, Naruto-kun, (in the kunoichi class) at the academy, lessons in seduction and utilizing charm are part of the curriculum, you know. Perhaps your handsome face and charisma have unconsciously conquered Miss Hyuga's heart to the point she's willing to give you her answers? Who knows..."
Hana teased with an amused tone.
Naruto's face immediately felt hot.
"Ha-Hana-neechan! Don't say weird things!"
He tried to ignore Hana's teasing and focus on the situation before him. Although embarrassed, he also felt a little... happy?
Naruto quickly wrote "Thanks, Hinata!" on the corner of his desk, where only Hinata could see it from the side. Then he added, "Just leave your paper unobstructed, no need to show it too much so the proctors don't notice." He didn't want Hinata to get into trouble because of him.
After making sure Hinata read it and nodded faintly, Naruto quickly erased the writing on the desk.
Carefully and without being too conspicuous, he began to copy answers from Hinata's paper.
His heart was still pounding, not just from fear of getting caught, but also because of Hinata's kindness.
Forty-five minutes later...
Time passed minute by minute, dragging the tension throughout the examination room to its peak.
Finally, Morino Ibiki's heavy voice broke the suffocating silence:
"Okay, the trash has almost been cleared out. Now, let's announce the tenth question!" Ibiki's words were like thunderclaps exploding over the examination room, startling all the Genin.
"First, I will explain it in detail," Ibiki continued without expression, his sharp eyes observing each candidate, as if piercing their souls. "This tenth question has some special rules that will make you despair."
Everyone's heart stirred, and they pricked up their ears, afraid of missing even a single detail of the proctor's explanation.
"First rule," Ibiki said, "you must choose whether to answer this tenth question or not. Candidates who choose not to answer will immediately be deemed unqualified and receive zero points. Of course, your two teammates will also be eliminated along with you."
"In that case, the question must be multiple choice! It's too chaotic if there's an elimination rule like that!" Whispers and discussions immediately filled the examination room.
"Quiet!"
Ibiki barked.
"There's another, more important rule. If you choose to answer the tenth question, but your answer is wrong... then the person who answered the question will be disqualified from taking the Chunin Exams... forever!"
The room instantly erupted.
"How can there be such a ridiculous rule?!"
Kiba shouted, not accepting it.
"Besides, there are some candidates here who have taken this exam many times! That's not fair!"
Kiba's observation skills were indeed still very sharp.
"Haha, your luck is truly rotten. This year, I am the proctor, and I make the rules!"
Ibiki sneered, a cold smile etched on his scarred face.
"Besides, I'm also giving you an easy way out. Those who aren't confident in their answers, or are afraid of the consequences, can choose not to answer and try again next year. The choice is yours."
The tense atmosphere in the examination room reached its climax, almost suffocating. Each Genin weighed the incredibly heavy choice.
"Now," Ibiki's voice echoed again, "for those who do not want to answer question number 10, please raise your hands. After your numbers are recorded, you and your team are welcome to leave this place."
The atmosphere in the place was truly tense.
Many people were pinning their hopes on this last question, but the risk was too great.
One by one, hands began to rise hesitantly, followed by disappointed sighs and heavy footsteps leaving the room.
Suddenly, Kankuro, the Genin from Sunagakure, stood up and roughly pushed the door open, followed by a proctor who walked out with him.
Naruto watched the proctor carefully; strangely, the proctor seemed mindless and moved like a lifeless doll.
"You're very lucky, kid. All your efforts playing with puppets behind the scenes weren't in vain, it seems," Ibiki looked at Kankuro with a faint, unreadable smile.
So that person was a puppet? Naruto suddenly realized. Kankuro was controlling it from outside to get answers? Clever!
Naruto, who had gotten a detailed heads-up on the format of this tenth question from Hana-neechan, appeared relatively calm.
He observed his surroundings, seeing the tense and doubtful faces of the other Genin. He then looked at Ibiki without a trace of fear.
More and more participants raised their hands, choosing to give up rather than risk being disqualified forever. The room began to feel a bit emptier.
Seeing the doubt on his friends' faces and those of other participants, Naruto suddenly stood up and slammed his hand hard on the table.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME! I WON'T RUN! I WILL ANSWER THE QUESTION! I WILL PARTICIPATE FULLY IN THIS EXAM, AND I WILL BECOME HOKAGE SOMEDAY! I'M NOT SCARED AT ALL, DATTEBAYO!"
he shouted loudly, his voice breaking the tension.
Because of Hana's repeated warnings not to say forbidden words like "even if I can only be a Genin for the rest of my life," Naruto consciously didn't say that part. He remembered Hana once said, "Words have power, Naruto-kun. Never limit yourself with negative statements, even if it's to show courage."
In Naruto's subconscious, Hana smiled proudly. "Smart boy! That's my prince! If it weren't for these damn iron bars in the way, I would have made sure you got the warmest kiss and hug from me right now, Naruto-kun!" Hana whispered in a coddling tone.
The blond boy's previously serious and determined face immediately flushed slightly upon hearing the praise (and enticement) from Hana-neechan.
"I'll ask one more time," Ibiki stared sharply at Naruto, then at all the remaining participants.
"This is a choice that will sacrifice your entire future as a ninja. So, if you want to give up, do it now!" Ibiki continued to apply psychological pressure.
"I do what I say, and I never go back on my words! That's my ninja way!" Naruto said with a firm expression, trying his best to forget the words and embarrassing images Hana had just whispered.
However, the image of himself being hugged and kissed by the beautiful Hana-neechan was still hard to erase from his mind, making his cheeks feel even hotter.
'Hmm, what an interesting kid. He managed to calm the unease of those around him in an instant. There are still 79 people left. Although there are still many people left, it seems pointless to keep pressing like this,' Ibiki thought to himself. He then gave a faint nod to the present proctors.
"All of you... you've shown extraordinary determination,"
Ibiki said, his tone slightly softening.
"In that case, whoever is still here... you all pass the first exam!" Ibiki announced the test results with a faint smile.
Instantly, everyone in the room was in an uproar.
"What?! What happened? Why did we all suddenly pass?"
"Then what was the question for the tenth problem?" Sakura exclaimed, still in disbelief.
"Hahaha, from the beginning, there was no such thing as a tenth question like that,"
Ibiki laughed heartily, his laughter echoing. "If I may say so, the choice you faced just now was the real tenth question."
"So... so the first nine questions meant nothing at all?" someone protested, unconvinced.
"Of course, they meant something!" Ibiki snapped, his face serious again.
"The purpose of those first nine questions was to test each of your intelligence-gathering abilities. You had to complete those nine comprehensive questions by any means necessary."
Ibiki explained, "In other words, this exam was essentially based on cheating. So, as targets for your cheating, I selected two Chunin who knew the correct answers to infiltrate and sit among you."
"Those who cheated in foolish and easily detectable ways were, of course, immediately eliminated. As for the reason..."
Ibiki slowly removed his headband, revealing a horrifying array of burn scars and gashes on his head.
"Information, in missions and on the battlefield, is sometimes more valuable than life itself. Information is something you risk your life to obtain. And information obtained from a third party is not necessarily correct information. Remember this well. Holding wrong information in your hands, and simply believing it, will bring a devastating blow to your teammates and even your village."
"But we still can't accept that last question!" Some people still insisted on protesting about the life-and-death choice.
"The tenth question, or rather the 'tenth choice,' was the ultimate goal of this first exam,"
Ibiki explained patiently.
"When you become a Chunin, you will lead a team. Do you think you can always avoid dangerous missions? The answer is, of course, impossible. There will be times when you get missions that cannot be refused, no matter how dangerous they are. Being able to show courage to your teammates in critical moments, and having the ability to break through difficulties together, those are the qualifications a Chunin must possess as a unit captain."
Ibiki smiled faintly, his gaze no longer intimidating, but full of appreciation.
"If you are an individual who doesn't even dare to risk your own life for a possibility, and only pins hope on an uncertain future without trying, a coward with a wavering heart and weak will, I don't think such a person is qualified to be a Chunin."
"All of you here," Ibiki continued,
"have successfully faced the difficulties you might encounter in the future. You have successfully passed this entrance exam. With this, the first exam is declared over! I wish you all the best in the next exam!"
"YOSHAAA!" Naruto leaped for joy, pumping his fist in the air. "We did it, dattebayo!"
"Hey, hey, it's still too early to celebrate now!" Suddenly a black cloth ball burst in through a broken window, startling everyone.
Ibiki deftly dodged. The cloth ball unfurled on the wall, revealing a banner. It read: "The proctor for the second exam, Mitarashi Anko, is here!"
"I'm the second exam proctor, Mitarashi Anko!" A female ninja in tight brown fishnet attire and an athletic, curvaceous body appeared in a flamboyant style in front of the banner. Her aura felt wild and unpredictable.
"Alright, kids! No time to relax! Let's go straight to the second exam location! Everyone, follow me!"
Anko exclaimed with great enthusiasm, as if eager to start the 'party' immediately.
"Take a look at the atmosphere first, Anko," Ibiki reminded expressionlessly from behind the announcement board still stuck to the wall, mocking Anko's overly enthusiastic behavior.
Anko looked at Ibiki slightly embarrassed, then cleared her throat.
"Ahem! Seventy-nine people? Ibiki, a lot of teams passed. You were too lenient on the first exam this year," Anko said, dissatisfied, as she observed the remaining Genin.
"There are many great ninjas this year, Anko," Ibiki replied briefly.
"Hmph! In that case, for the second exam, I'll make sure the participants are reduced to less than half!"
Anko became enthusiastic again, a wide grin etched on her face. "
We'll discuss the exam details tomorrow. After that, we'll move to the actual exam site. You can ask your respective Jonin sensei about the meeting place and time for tomorrow. Now, dismiss!"